USA's Ann Li has just won her first title in four years after beating Lulu Sun 7-6 (6) 6-2 in the Guangzhou final.
Li, who was seeded at No. 2 at the WTA 500 tournament in Guangzhou, found herself in a very tight first-set battle against 116th-ranked Sun, who made the final as a qualifier. Late in the first set, the No. 2 seed missed out on two set points in the 10th game, as well as two additional in the 12th game. When Sun opened a 3-0 lead in the tie-break - it looked like the American would lose the first set in a heartbreaking way - but she impressively bounced back and took the opener after converting her sixth set point.
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Losing the first set in such a way was too much to mentally overcome for Sun, who lost her serve in back-to-back games at the start of the second set. Up by a set and two breaks, Li had no issues closing out the match on her serve in the eighth game.
Li snaps her three-match losing streak in her WTA finals
In late 2021, the American lifted her maiden WTA title after beating Camila Osorio in the Tenerife final. Last year, the American fell short to Zeynep Sonmez in the Merida title match. Earlier this year, the 25-year-old was beaten by Elise Mertens in the Singapore final and by Sorana Cirstea in the Cleveland final, respectively.
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After losing three WTA finals in a row, Li probably felt some nerves going into the Guangzhou title match. However, she was able to deal with it and now owns multiple titles.
On the other side, 24-year-old Sun remains without a WTA title in her collection.
